The procedure in which telecommunication data inspection systems determine what the provider has previously decided something should cost for applications is generally referred to as rating. The applications may include prepaid voice and data services for GSM/GPRS, CDMA/1xRTT and 3G wireless carriers, Wi Fi, and MMS services, mobile content and Internet access, VOIP calls and other stored value transactions.
When providing charging oriented traffic classification and metering (for both pre and post paid subscribers), there are times when the subscribers access content (downloadable ring-tones, video clips, applications) where the value is best known by the content server which provides this content. Even with a powerful rating engine, it is difficult and time consuming for the operator to internally provide the correct valuation of the content.
Using statically defined rating tables administered by the operator limits the degree to which content providers (and operators) can benefit from dynamic factors, such as promotions that relate to popular events. Such static definitions also limit the extent to which incentives can be delivered to customers in real-time, affording a benefit, for example, at the time the customer is a specific application or downloading specific content, that is be derived from the knowledge that there is a correlation between the popularity of that application and another application or service.
Content providers and operators often want to apply discounts and incentives to subscribers (e.g., free game after so many played, two-for-one ring tone downloads on a particular day, etc.). Such incentive structures are highly dynamic and difficult to pre-program in operator rating engines.
Innovative content providers are often, by nature, highly streamlined organizations. Systems that require such organizations to institute complex micropayment schemes can prevent mobile operators, and their subscribers, from benefiting to the maximum extent from the availability of new and potentially compelling content, and from the dynamic and highly innovative pricing and incentive plans that such organizations typically institute.